Summary Gaiman/Pratchett

What we enjoyed about “Good Omens”:
– series captures the book quite well, watching the series first shaped the reading experience
– “I loved the humour”
– reminded us of Adam’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
– dynamic between C. and A. great, we ship them
– book feels quite whole despite the two authors
– funny, laughing a lot, witty contrasted with deep, touching moments
– “really really entertaining”
– who wrote what question interesting — which parts are Gaiman, which parts are Pratchett
– combination of humour and witty writing style, topic end of the world hilarious
– angel and demon working against the end of the world stunning
– apocalyptic stuff hilarious, we gotta save the world
– theological detail subverted, turned around, well done
– well written
– beginning of the novel hilarioius: debuking theories, adding another theory, someone really worked their way through the material and then made fun of it
– Four Riders really cool!
– Extraordinary ordinary characters, book pays attention to so many people
– Obscure fun, “it’s raining fish? Nice”, really enjoyable
– Mirroring groups cool: heaven vs. hell, four riders vs. the them
– Intertextual references fun
– multi perspectives cool but also overdoing it
– annotations(footnotes funny but sometimes disturb the reading flow
– best part: hellhound part hilarious
– combining all the storylines in the end: impressive
– A. & C. great: “ineffable husbands”, platonic friends, classic trope of bickering old friends, not queerbaiting?
– 6.5 out of 10 pentagrams 😀 “was funny”, enjoyable
– 4/5 stars because some parts could’ve been cut
– mostly “it was a great book”
– with more knowledge on theology and occultism parts of the book would’ve been even more fun
– TV show in many regards better than the book, especially because it focusses more on A. & C.
– copy of the book in the Vatican library? 😀 Joke from the foreword –> occult or satanic work? LOL “devilish funny little question”
– petition against the show because it’s anti-religious (weird!)

What we discussed:
– humour not working for everyone
– deadpan, anarchistic humour sometimes a bit tedious / annoying
– humour also depends on the mood
– names funny yet also a bit annoying, “a bit much”
– hard to really immerse into the book
– it depends on the mood how much we enjoy the book
– so many different perspectives annoying (A. & C. were great! The Them were pretty annoying but they’re cool in the TV show)
– unpopular opinion: the book would be better if 100 pages were cut 😀
– TV show better 😀

Other books we talked about:
– “When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain”: fun, too short, free read nice!
– “Die Welt ohne Fenster”, written by a 12yo girl and immediately became a bestseller, at the age of 25 the author left home and husband and vanished, bought because of the author’s biography
– “Remote Control” by Nnedi Okorafor: African futurism, interesting take on death, technical progress
– “Normal People” by Sally Rooney: 5/5, special relationship between two people, beautifully written, “made me feel bad sometimes”
– “All the Light We Cannot See”: quite interesting read, set during WWII, recommendable
– “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman: uplifting, sweet, wholesome; can be read for free online!
– Mistborn #1 by Sanderson: really cool, dystopian fantasy, scifi-ish, inventive, had some lengths
– Stormlight Archives brilliant! (Sanderson), also connected to the Mistborn series and other COSMERE books

Summary Miller

What we enjoyed about the book:
– Beautiful prose, crystal clear
– Not a corny love story
– Feels natural, not an artificial retelling
– Rewritten from the perspective of Patroclus, change of perspective great
– Beautiful ending, fascinating
– Achilles not presented like an arrogant jerk and bully; vulnerable side was well done, he is able to love someone
– Unique retelling, especially interesting take on the fantastic aspects of the mythology; interesting how she handled gods
– Miller really did “her homework” on the Iliad –> Homer more epic, Miller influenced by modern sensibilities, softer retelling
– Made the mythology feel real; retelling not boring
– Natural relatopnship between A. and P.; not forced at all; “it just happened to be queer because it fit the story”
– Level of detail is amazing!
– Human side of the story was focussed on, humanise characters / heroes who are larger than life
– Trojan War in school –> historical perspective; now make it much more personal –> approach it from different perspectives
– Miller actually a teacher, combined this with a more personal approach
– “I liked how gay it was”
– Atmosphere created was really cool, made us wanted to travel to Greece, go to the beaches!
– Gay love story taken from Homer, already pretty gay, they were more than just friends already in the Iliad, not a stretch 😀
– “As a gay man who’s more on the introverted side, I felt a connection to P. that I seldom have, so that representation was really nice”
– Prose great at creating vivid and very sensuous imagery –> taste the figs, feel the sun ❤
– Beautiful ending, yet so tragic
– 5 star read for many of us, “stuck with me ever since”; “still think about it”, “love everything about it”; some of us are gonna reread it; we can still cry over it even though some of us read it last year; impressive book
– 7.5 out of 10 stars –> not a big fan of the romance, but the images created were beautiful, great reading experience

What we discussed:
– Flowery love story prose a bit boring (still beautiful)
– Relationship between A. and P. felt scandalous (marketing-wise?) vs. we really loved their relationship
– What could’ve been done better: “make it even gayer”
– Bit too modern in parts –> how P. thought about his feelings, more like a modern coming out; thinking in categories very modern
– P. not a bloodthirsty Greek macho, but sometimes Miller trying to distance him from that picture felt a bit artifical?
– Gay love felt not normal at parts? Weird, when being in love with different genders was not a big thing back then? Maybe P. afraid of the relationship because of Achilles’ status? He’s not good enough for Achilles?
– Fierce warrior vs. more feminine man bit problematic? (Overall relationship was enjoyed!)
– Why did P. spend the night with Achilles’ wife?????
– pre-war part more enjoyable than the war part –> we want chilling with Chiron the entirety of the book; close relationship missing during the war
– Achilles showed another part of him: the part which made him famous. But this is not the part we saw before with P. and him together
– Focus on fame and legends –> A.’ mother thinks that P. could hold A. back, which is why she keeps them separated; we still dislike the mother 😀
– Ending left us devestated (not entirely a bad thing :D:D:D)
– Why would gods favour somebody and ignore others? Why don’t the gods save A. and P.???? MEAN! Achilles an average human in the end interesting. Gods selfish, mean, neutral, also sometimes random? A. and P. together in the end, without any restrictions or jobs in the way?

Other books we talked about:
– “Fledgling” by Octavia Butler –> “vampire and racism”, vampire story, symbiosis with their human blood-givers; interesting as a vampire novel with a mystery aspect; amnesia: learn how to be a vampire; thriller aspect cool in the beginning, gets a bit slow; very intelligent; bit too idealistic/wholesome? Great prose too.
– “Circe” by Madeline Miller not as good as “Song of Achilles”, but still very enjoyable; Circe’s character development was great; evil witch in mythology; change of perspective great
– READ THE ILIAD PEOPLE! Not dusty, it’s cool! “More brutal than Game of Thrones”
– “Lavinia” by Ursula Le Guin; minor character in focus;
– “Ms Marvel” comics are great! Captain Marvel –> 16yo Pakistani-American girl, very nerdy, clumsy, obsessed with superheroes, fun, great cameos!

Summary Leckie

What we enjoyed:
– Organic for a space opera; space operas often times too big and over the top; Leckie’s universe feels more realistic
– Ice-World, for example, description made it feel quite real. This is a planet that could exist in our world. Felt almost like a description catered at possible tourists?
– Part where the protagonist was still a ship  never read before, unique perspective, fascinating
– Super confusing at first, bit like a mystery novel (also annoying at the same time), different time lines and narratives
– Cool world-building, feels like reading a sequel at first, one starts to get the hang of it and it is rewarding, but it is annoying still
– Seeing the protagonist from two points of the story cool
– Rewarding ending (for all the struggle)
– Love-hate-relationship with the beginning of this one: no exposition at all really (in contrast to an info-dump at the beginning)
– Trying to find gender everywhere made me realise that it doesn’t really matter  extremely rewarding; persons are just persons, we don’t need the gender for the love story; was still super confusing at the beginning
– Reminded us of “The Left Hand of Darkness”  uses male pronouns (also due to the focalizer), here it is female pronouns  this novel makes us see people without seeing gender  challenges its readers  “it messes with your brain”
– Language & gender: incredible how much language influences our mind-sets  taking ones language and concepts with one to other places  powerful
– We love the tea time, really cool  world so very different from ours, but this thing was similar
– Well written book, 8/10 but doesn’t grip you (sadly), not interested in reading the sequels
–

What we discussed:
– Confusing, confusing, confusing!
– Does our protagonist even care about gender? Misgendering much?
– Very organic yes, but some things also made everything feel mundane, even the super cool gun? Antagonist also not that spectacular? Sometimes it should have been more colourful and hook us in? Not spectacular enough?
– We compared it to “All Systems Red” (Martha Wells)  humour, funny parts are missing
– Protagonist very distanced and cold, made it hard to emphasise
– More humour and funny scenes maybe? It’s a space opera after all. Doesn’t fit the plot, but…
– Protagonist clinical, not overly easy to emphasise with
– Confusion too much, audiobook made it really hard to follow
– Protagonist in several places at once, different conversations at once, too much
– Introduction missing, sad, “I got very very confused and gave up”
– Novel lacked focus in parts, confusion lasts too long, ending helps but it’s too late
– Overwhelming yet nothing is really introduced and explained so that we can follow
– Worldbuilding felt unattached in parts, can’t really imagine all the places that well
– Antagonist: one part of your personality doesn’t like you any more, let’s go civil war (LOL)
– World building, conflict, etc. could have been much clearer
– Everything too normal?
– Many of us won’t pick up the sequels (too hard to read, exhausting, overall plot also weird)
– Boring in parts, but some of us will pick up the sequels to know where it is going?
– 2/5 stars: lots of good stuff, but too confusing and boring in parts, also not finished so you never know

Other books we talked about:
– “The Unspoken Name” by A. K. Larkwood: really cool tor.com bookclub free book, bit strong on the romance, but very well done, recommendable!
– Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan: strange, daughter of the devil, magical realism / magic occurs
– Ghost Stories by Emma James: short story collections, really enjoyable, “Lost Hearts”, “Number 13”
– Leigh Bardugo “Six of Crows”: Ocean’s Eleven in a “Game of Thrones” setting
– “1984” was a brilliant dystopia! Dark twists, very funny on a meta-level even, things change every five minutes (pandemic, anybody?)
– Robin Hobb “Assassin’s Apprentice” is brilliant

Summary Octavia Butler “Kindred”

What we ‘liked’ about the book / what was interesting:

  • Beautiful, crystal clear prose, reading the text was enjoyable
  • Black History Month: fitting book
  • Audiobook made the language especially enjoyable
  • Immersive, horrible in parts, but rewarding to read
  • Time-travelling worked really well for the topic
  • Mysterious connection between past and present
  • Compared to Kafka’s “Die Verwandlung” –> does not need to be explained, very uncomplicated, supernatural just happens
  • Maybe even HG Wells + Kafka –> time travel + nothing is explained
  • Straightforward story
  • Sci-fi aspect was unexplained, but that was okay, it didn’t need an explanation
  • Concept really intriguing
  • Story shook me to the core
  • Time-travel just the thing that is needed to tell the story, but not the point of the story
  • Made us feel uncomfortable, which is a good thing, not enjoyable, but important
  • Story feels very up to date even though the novel is ‘quite old’
  • Prose easy to understand, did not feel ‘dusty’
  • Made one feel unsafe, off
  • Distancing oneself from it hard
  • We did not enjoy it per se, was quite extreme
  • Made us experience a slice of history
  • Emotional distance helped
  • Novels that are more ‘fantastic’ (speculative fiction-wise) are easier to distance yourself from
  • Partially very hard to read, makes you feel, especially as a woman reading it; would be even harder to read it as a BIPoC; necessary read for white people
  • Felt invested in the characters (same feeling: “Underground Railroad”), scenes stick with us
  • Dana + Kevin likeable, complex, multidimension; relationship depicted very well –> relationship remained stable throughout this whole ordeal
  • Historical characters: multidimensional, too, but some tropes; Rufus switching between extremes –> eugenics, slavery ingrained in him, Dana changing him totally would’ve been unrealistic
  • Rufus: hope for him, but also hate him; got what he deserved in the ending; one also pities him –> potential was there
  • Dana and Kevin together were cool, we ship them
  • Dana remained quite cold and sober –> typical book protagonist who handles everything; she has also experienced a lot of racism in her life and knows how to keep calm and handle things –> but she could’ve reacted a bit more emotionally; Dana more clear-headed than we would’ve been; purpose: figured out link to ancestor out early on –> gave her something to work for –> a purpose –> helped her
  • Novel felt like a nightmare
  • One cannot escape the system (in the past), Kevin also becomes involved and cannot do what’s right
  • Dana’s stoicism is great, refuses to adapt to her timeline; refuses to take on another accent; refuses to back down; also helped her distance herself from the timeline; continues to wear men’s clothes
  • Feminist ideas superb
  • Relationship between D. & K. also suffers from the time travel: becomes more complicated
  • 8/10 would def. read other stuff by Octavia Butler
  • Writing style was superb, will check out more Octavia Butler; 4.5/5
  • 5/5 superb
  • Hard to rate, uncomfortable, but very good
  • 4/5, couldn’t put it down
  • Will pick up “Parable of the Sower” too

What we discussed:

  • Historical characters could’ve been better, stuck to some stereotypes; felt a little weaker
  • Love/hate Rufus, complicated character
  • Dana’s lack of feelings would’ve made it easier to emotionally engage with her
  • Felt a bit dusty in parts because it’s so old (but no biggie)
  • Some of us don’t like time-travel novels because it feels a bit far-fetched; Dana’s ordeal weird (works in connection to the narrative and the symbolism) if you take it at face value (no suspended disbelief) –> flaw but cannot be changed about this novel and there are worse examples out there (e.g. “Cursed Child” just cheap nonsense)
  • If you are caught up in the story, you do not care for logic or the time travel mechanics –> Octavia Butler did it quite well, but the characters could’ve questioned it a bit more; they just accepted it
  • Questioned time travel after reading, while reading it worked quite well
  • Rufus was able to hear Kevin & Dana in the present day –> how did that work? Unexplained
  • Two parts of the book (past vs. present) felt a little imbalanced –> present better than past parts; wittier; historical part much more black and white (some experiments like Rufus), but more clear cut –> simplifying? Felt a bit like an essay, novel would’ve been good for pupils to read
  • Dana’s lack of emotion in connection to the past made it feel a bit more bleak –> she accepted it as history and not something she could change; resigned herself to her ‘fate’ too easily; could’ve struggled more, but she is also very headstrong; tries to keep part of herself safe
  • ALL THE COVERS ARE TERRIBLE AND MISLEADING! 😮

Other books we talked about:

  • Jackie Kay “Trumpet: Enjoyable nice, not specfic –> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29438639-trumpet
  • Becky Chambers: “Records of a Spaceborn Few”: really enjoyable, sweet
  • Alice Osemann: “Heartstopper” Graphic novels are wholesome and queer; characters likeable; high school kids innocent but sweet; webcomic great, will continue after March –> https://tapas.io/series/Heartstopper/info
  • McGuire “Across the Green Grass Fields”: fun, wholesome, centaurs and dumb unicorns; Wayward Children #6 (we all liked “Every Heart a Doorway”)
  • S. J. Jones “Winter Song”: historical Bavaria; German incorporated (not always correct); “quite a wild ride”, very interesting; fantasy; about a goblin king (Erlkönig)
  • Tamsyn Muir “Gideon the Ninth”: THAT BOOK IS HOT; SO GOOD (sequel “Harrow the Ninth” — according to Marthe — even better than the first one!)
  • “A Memory Called Empire” is really good –> Sequel: “A Desolation Called Peace” also great